University of Glasgow PhD candidate Megan Blakely reports on CREATe Results: Books, Publishing, Archives and Libraries session at the September CREATe All Hands Conference.

The Books, Publishing, Archives, and Libraries Panel, chaired by Ben Pester from Goldsmiths, University of London, featured speakers with a variety of perspectives on the theme. The session overall provided excellent overviews of progress on CREATe projects as well as valuable industry feedback.

Professor Sarah Kember, also from Goldsmiths, kicked off the session with a discussion related to copyright and publishing, Whose Book is it Anyway?. The research focuses on hopes and fears through studying psychological, political, and cultural reactions to technology and copyright. Prof. Kember is exploring the impact of peer review and free labour, citation issues, gender and feminist perspectives in publishing as well as the effect on business models.

PhD student Liz Dowthwaite also from Nottingham moved the conversation along to web comics and an examination of crowdfunding. Web comic artists depend on web platforms and survive by driving traffic to their website and self-publishing to subvert industry norms, and Dowthwaite’s research also explores creative media to build communities that can provide funding for creative work to continue.

PhD student Christian Geib from the University of Strathclyde explained how text and data mining has the potential for prima facie violation of copyright in many international legal systems’ right to reproduction. However, statutory exceptions may allow for text and data mining. In particular, the April 2014 statutory update that allows for copies of lawfully accessed text and data analysis for non-commercial research may be useful but is still limited by the legal language – restrictions to ‘lawful access’ and ‘non-commercial research’. Lastly, Geib pointed out the legal uncertainty surrounding permanency when determining whether a copy has been made during a technological transaction.

Edinburgh University Press’ John Watson, watched by Author Ken McLeod and Darryl Mead of the National Library of Scotland

The respondent panel was opened by author Ken McLeod, who shared his experiences of finding unauthorised electronic copies of his works online and emphasised how creative operate in a world that lawyers and legal philosophers have designed, leading to ideological responses to unique creative issues. He suggested that intellectual property law should focus on the material of social relations rather than evangelise the principles behind the law.

Darryl Mead of National Library of Scotland followed, and relayed useful information about the many challenges with copyright and libraries as well as reflecting upon the individual presentations. Additionally, Mead suggested that libraries could benefit from a proper dialog surrounding these issues with publishers.

Finally, John Watson of the Edinburgh University Press responded by pointing to publishers’ evolving policies towards open access and ebooks and challenges in adapting to new tech markets. He additionally suggested that perhaps we’ve forgotten the importance of the physical object (e.g. valuable first editions and paper copies that offer illustrations, fonts, and style that adds value to the physical form).